New International Destination from CLT

[NAPAUS]

SO with all the potential for CLT and PHL as international gateways US needs to revamp their structure and get a "REAL " plan to be competitive in the global market.
The big question is how do they do that? Does US alter narrow body orders in exchange for more wide bodies? Add the 767-400, search out opportunities for A330's that are up for sale? Spin off a big portion of the domestic structure to a reputable express carrier - i.e. Republic- and add a significant amt of Int'l destinations within the next two years. Does US search for a merger partner- SOON!? Obviously somethings got to give. The way to make money is to fly and grow internationally. Tempe's got to get a plan, because NOBODY believes they have one.

 

[US1YFARE]

So state in AA's own press release for THREE of these aircraft in 2009:
http://www.aa.com/content/amrcorp/pressRel...28_boeing.jhtml

You need to work on your reading comprehension.....

 

[rah757]

So who is going to fly this CLT....Paris flight???? Are we going to deadhead PHL pilots down or send all CLT pilots to Intl school????

 

[BoeingBoy]

So who is going to fly this CLT....Paris flight???? Are we going to deadhead PHL pilots down or send all CLT pilots to Intl school????

Could be either (although not "all CLT pilots" would need int'l, just re-establish a 75/76 Int'l base).

Jim

 

[FWAAA]

So state in AA's own press release for THREE of these aircraft in 2009:
http://www.aa.com/content/amrcorp/pressRel...28_boeing.jhtml

Too funny. That press release was dated March 28, 2007. Old news, Captain.

Relying on 18 month old information can get you into trouble (and make you look very foolish). But I assume you already know that.

Re-read the quote I provided you from the 3rd quarter 10-Q, filed on October 16, 2008. AA has commited to the delivery of 76 737-800s in 2009-10.

Many will replace MD-80s. Some will be used for Caribbean service.

 

[FlyDCJets]

Too funny. That press release was dated March 28, 2007. Old news, Captain.

Relying on 18 month old information can get you into trouble (and make you look very foolish). But I assume you already know that.

Re-read the quote I provided you from the 3rd quarter 10-Q, filed on October 16, 2008. AA has commited to the delivery of 76 737-800s in 2009-10.

Many will replace MD-80s. Some will be used for Caribbean service.

My bad on that, I did not see the date on the press release thank you for pointing that out.

 

[FWAAA]

My bad on that, I did not see the date on the press release thank you for pointing that out.

No worries. Now that we've got that cleared up, back to your earlier point:

One of the few that is actually taking delivery of new aircraft and conservatively adding growth internationally. Whether year round or seasonal, it is something that other legacy and low cost carriers are not doing.

While it's great to see US take delivery of new aircraft and conservatively add international growth, it's not like the other legacies have ignored that strategy. Since 2004-05 or so, DL has finally taken some of its domestic-configured 763s and 764s and reconfigured them for increased international service. Delta has led the industry in new international flights. Of course, you may have been excluding DL when you said "conservatively adding growth" since DL's conduct is anything but conservative. DL has added 777LR to fly 16-18 hour flights to India and elsewhere. Delta has engaged in stratospheric international growth.

At AA, all it's done the last few years is grow internationally. Although AA hasn't taken delivery of many new widebodies lately (only about 15 of them since September 11, 2001 - more international capacity than all of US widebody fleet), AA already had 34 AB6s, 58 763ERs and 47 777ERs in its widebody stable. AA also has 15 762ERs that are dedicated primarily to the 3-class transcons.

US, with its 9 A330s and 9 762s and some 757ERs, had to acquire new airplanes to grow internationally. All AA had to do was take some 763s off its Hawaii routes and cancel some loser 777 routes and suddenly it had plenty of new widebody capacity. And when you've got 20 LHR flights in the summer and 16 in the winter, you can add seasonal flying where it makes sense.

Recently, AA decided to park all 34 AB6s and replace that capacity with 757s and 763s. New 738s will help fill in for the 757s moved to the Caribbean to replace the AB6s. Now, AA is modifying 18 757s with lie-flat Biz seats to take over some transatlantic routes, freeing up more 763s.

I'd say that AA has grown its international routes modestly - maybe conservatively. And CO has added plenty of international routes with its BizFirst equipped 757s plus some newer 777s.

It's great that US is growing internationally, but it has no monopoly on that strategy. DL, CO and AA have long been adding international capacity.

 

[PA18]

Could be either (although not "all CLT pilots" would need int'l, just re-establish a 75/76 Int'l base).

Jim

I have never understood why all wide-body pilots at US aren't qualified to fly all international flights, including trans-Atlantic, as they are at AA. This would allow much more flexibility in scheduling and reserve usage, and save a bunch of money on training, as pilots bounce back and forth from domestic to international.

BTW, I understand there are quite a few domestic trips in the PHL 76I lines this winter, which include many CLT RON's; and that the CLT 76D pilots are not very amused by this.

 

[PHL]

I have never understood why all wide-body pilots at US aren't qualified to fly all international flights, including trans-Atlantic, as they are at AA.

So you're saying an A300 pilot at AA can walk out of the left seat and then go to the gate next door and take the helm of a 777-200? By that logic, a US pilot would be technically able to move from an A330 to a B767 on any given day. But I don't believe the FARs allow for this.

The 757/767 is a different beast. Same type rating. I know at AA and CO, pilots can fly both these types in any given month. Is that the same at US? I don't know, but it's "legal" as far as the FARs go (although maybe not the contract language). I don't think it's legal to allow a pilot to mix an A330 and B767 in any given month, though.

The A319/A320/A321 pilots can mix and match in a given month, which is a huge cost savings in fleet/crew utilization and training costs.

 

[rah757]

I don't think PA18 was suggesting that we could mix AB 330 flying with B767/757 flying. He was asking why all CLT 757/767 pilots aren't qualified for Intl flying also.

The answer is simple.....MONEY. There is a 2 day groundschool coupled with at least 2 linechecks across the pond to qualify each pilot. This company is not about to spend that money..........

 

[nycbusdriver]

I have never understood why all wide-body pilots at US aren't qualified to fly all international flights, including trans-Atlantic, as they are at AA. This would allow much more flexibility in scheduling and reserve usage, and save a bunch of money on training, as pilots bounce back and forth from domestic to international.

BTW, I understand there are quite a few domestic trips in the PHL 76I lines this winter, which include many CLT RON's; and that the CLT 76D pilots are not very amused by this.

The short answer, as I've been told, is quality control. Transatlantic flying is different than domestic in many important ways. The procedures are more cumbersome and complicated. It's not rocket science, but it's the type of thing that needs fairly continuous use to remain proficient. We were told that a certain Atlanta based carrier had a similar policy of allowing any pilot otherwise qualified in a seat to fly either transoceanic or domestic. What was happening is that a pilot who did nothing but mind-numbing domestic flying for years suddenly decided it would be fun to go to Munich for Oktoberfest (along with the other pilots in the cockpit who had similar ideas and experience) and they proceeded to screw up the entire North Atlantic because they were clueless about what needed to be done.

American may avoid this by requiring some recency of experience before turning an airplane loose on the highly structured environment of the North Atlantic. But this would then require yet more recordkeeping and bidding problems.

USAirways (to their credit) made the conscious decision to eliminate these problems by keeping the jobs separate, as they should be.

 

[PHL]

I know a CO B757/B767 pilot. He regularly flies domestic 752/753 trips and intl. 75E/764 routes in any given month with none of the issues described above. But CO has a lot more 76 and 75 aircraft flying over the Atlantic on any given day than US.

With the increase in Europe destinations being served by the 757/767 at US, it might be worth looking at this again. There are 9 767's and, if I have read correctly, there will be about 10 757 ETOPS for next Summer. I would think some money could be saved by having the flexibility to schedule screws in either type.

 

[nycbusdriver]

I know a CO B757/B767 pilot. He regularly flies domestic 752/753 trips and intl. 75E/764 routes in any given month with none of the issues described above. But CO has a lot more 76 and 75 aircraft flying over the Atlantic on any given day than US.

With the increase in Europe destinations being served by the 757/767 at US, it might be worth looking at this again. There are 9 767's and, if I have read correctly, there will be about 10 757 ETOPS for next Summer. I would think some money could be saved by having the flexibility to schedule screws in either type.

I think as long as pilots get a few crossings in every month or two there would be no problem with proficiency.

For the life of me, I can't figure out where 10 757 ETOPS airplanes can go without being really tight on fuel for the return to the US. But we dare not give up our status as "The Littlest Airplanes" airline.

 

[aredeeyou22]

I think as long as pilots get a few crossings in every month or two there would be no problem with proficiency.

For the life of me, I can't figure out where 10 757 ETOPS airplanes can go without being really tight on fuel for the return to the US. But we dare not give up our status as "The Littlest Airplanes" airline.

Shocking! Another pilot with "size" issues....
:mf_boff:

 

[sharktooth]

Shocking! Another pilot with "size" issues....
:mf_boff:

Actually, it is not.

CO has a service tailored to the single aisle aircraft. AWE does not.

CO has many TA single aisle with HF to cabin intercom. AWE does not, anytime there is a call to medlink, at least one cockpit crew-member is removed from flying duties for the duration, resulting in a single pilot TA at night aircraft. Can one say, malicious negligence, should something bad happen?

CO has a call sign that matches the paint job on their airplanes, AWE (regional dopes) do not. This turned into a safety/security matter overseas. Cretins comment that the call sign will never change. OK, such management expertise, backing oneself into a corner and acting like a total moron. Let us fix this problem in an expeditious manner. If it involves changing the call sign, then do it, management's ego be damned.

CO went with the better galleys, obviating the need to transfer supplies from front to back, and vs, it frees up the "single aisle aircraft".

So, before you "compare" US to CO, try using apples to apples rather than the, so far, general comparison of road apples to oranges.